Storage containers for the purpose of storing medicines, holding foods and the like, under a variety of temperature conditions are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,651 (to Laib et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,272 (to Maxwell), U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0082305 (to Dais et al.), U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0176022 (to Furlong), U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2011/0180543 (to Rusnak et al.), and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0191022 (to Meiser et al.), all generally describe storage containers having some type of aperture, hole, or vent. The vents in the aforementioned references are vents provided to function as gas-exchange ports (e.g. oxygen exchange), and possess relatively small openings. Such small openings are not capable of providing a rapid thermal equalization with the environment surrounding the container, where the inside temperature of the container equals that of the immediate environment is the goal. Such a rapid thermal equalization requires substantially large ventilation openings that allow substantial air flow, not taught by the aforementioned references.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0191022 (to Meiser et al.) teaches a lockable container (to prevent unauthorized intrusion) including a ventilation scheme is not adjustable. The remaining aforementioned references disclose containers that possess some sort of adjustable ventilation scheme, but do not lend themselves to intrusion locking.
None of the aforementioned references teach a container system that can be constructed from thermally insulative materials (typically rigid materials over ¼ inch thick), and still perform their intended function. Furthermore, the corresponding adjustable ventilation schemes could not be constructed from said thermally insulative materials due to the incompatibility between the nature of the adjustable ventilation designs and the material properties of typical thermally insulative type materials.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing deficiencies among other shortcomings, there exists a clear motivation in the storage container arts for new and useful improvements.